The present invention relates to data fusion, more particularly to methods and systems for creating visual information (e.g., a visual data file) containing video data and numerical data that are displayable in a synchronous manner.
The creation of a video file combining video and numerical data has traditionally been a time-consuming and expensive process. A common approach has been to animate data displays frame-by-frame using a computer program with data-plotting features. The appropriately named sequence of data images would then be imported into video-editing software, which would manipulate the data sequence along with a camera-generated video file. Many efforts along these lines have had unique features carrying additional costs. Generally speaking, commercially available video-editing software offers very limited choices on how to structure the display; subsequent to output from the video-editing software, the video is fixed with no further customization possible.
Microsys Technologies Inc.'s PowerPlay analysis software permits access to synchronized data and video, and has been used in high-speed crash test analysis. PowerPlay displays data and video in separate windows, and permits synchronized playback of video data and sensor data so as to be displayed in practically any number of video windows and sensor windows. PowerPlay can create a multi-window single AVI file that combines one or more video windows with one or more sensor graph windows. Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is a multimedia container format that was introduced by Microsoft in 1992. AVI files are capable of containing both audio and video data in a file container permitting synchronous audio-video playback. Microsys Technologies Inc.'s PowerPlay AVI file is a container that permits display of rendered video. However, once the AVI file is created, the AVI file permits neither interaction therewith nor customization of the numerical data renderings nor reconfiguration of the overall display.
Hardware-based data inserters have been used in sports broadcasting. For instance, television broadcasts of racecar events have implemented techniques superimposing data values and related graphics over various camera feeds. The superposition is performed via hardware, marrying together various feeds. The viewer has no control over the data and data format.
In various scientific and engineering pursuits, analysis teams may require synchronous-display desktop access to high definition (HD) test video and data measurement channels. For instance, hydrodynamic facility tests such as performed by the United States Navy often produce large quantities of two kinds of data, viz., high definition video from observing cameras, and numerical data taken from multiple sensors. The video is usually not reviewed thoroughly until weeks after the test. Additional difficulties and costs are associated with adding data displays to the video. Therefore, projects frequently cannot afford to put synchronized views of high definition video and data in front of the test analysis scientists and engineers who need them.